Web Series – “Afro City” Episode 1: Afronista

Web Series – "Afro City" Episode 1: Afronista

OK, it’s about time for another web series and, as an antidote to the the reaction to recent posts on light skinned girls vs. dark skinned girls and their woes, real, percieved, or disbelieved, Afro City is perfect as it features a multi-hued cast of afroliciousness, ranging in flavour from vanilla, caramel, peanut butter to chocolate.

Created and produced by writer Rhonda Ray and director Lobace Stoll, Afro City stars Ray, Ebony Mikila, Bunmi Ayodele and Sabrina Alashi, and is about a singer, Jazzman Love, and her three best friends – art gallery owner(Crystal), model (Ebony) and earring designer (Fatimah). The series follows these four women as they share their love, lives, ups, downs, art and fashion while maneuvering through the big city and downtown art district of L A. Through good times and bad times, these four Afronistas create a bond that will last a lifetime.

It’s a formula that’s worked successfully before, whether it be The Golden Girls or Sex And The City, and, while I prefer to judge each show on its own merits, I’m sure you’ve all herd of at least one series or another, whether on TV or the web, that has purported to be the black version of the latter. Well, as an avid fan of SATC, the TV series (not so much the films… blaah), Afro City looks the closest in spirit to being on a par with SATC as anything else I’ve seen, with the added bonus that it has it’s own unabashed flair, wit, style and individuality that only an afrocentric slant could lend to it.

You can find out more about the cast, crew and series by visiting the website, Afrocitytv.com.

In the meantime, for the various hued black chicas everywhere, and the people who love them, here’s episode 1 of Afro City, Afronista.

I really want to like this, but as others have said the acting is weak. The voice-over is killing me softly and the constant reminder of what each character does feels like a hard sell from a telemarketer.

The dialogue isn’t natural enough; it’s overthought and doesn’t flow.

I like the concept and I hope it improves.

All these web series make me think talented actors, writers and producers could really create great work on a low budget, and build a fanbase that would support larger projects.

The women are indeed beautiful, and the hair is all really cool — great onscreen images overall. However, that’s where the positive feedback ends. The acting is horrendous — inexcusably bad — very unnatural. So bad that, because the performances are so flat, it almost feels like a bad documentary. I trust the acting, plots — and any possible fight scenes — will profoundly improve (there’s a great deal of room for it). I’ll remain optimistic that they will, and thus, continue to tune in for future episodes.

This has the potential to be a really great web series–the characters are ambitious, living their dreams, loyal to each other, beautifully Afrocentric and stylish…but the plug gets pulled right there. The ladies come off as incredibly one-dimensional, and I don’t know if it was the acting or the script, but something needs to change to make them more believable…otherwise, it will be like watching beautiful paper dolls. You have a great line-up: now make them come to life!

Yo. Ms. Woo. Could you take look at my web series and feature it please, I am currently working on Episode 5. But here is the U tube link to all four episodes and the website too! http://www.youtube.com/user/BenRaifilms

I’ve seen these ladies’ pics on several hair blogs – didn’t know it was for a show. It is a little hokey (even for a web series) but I’ll definitely follow it for a while. Future episodes may be better.